ATLANTA—Atlanta has become the 12th U.S. city, and the first in the Southeast, to pass an energy benchmarking law. The new law, referred to as the Atlanta Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance, will be phased in, starting with municipal buildings in 2015 and expanding to include private buildings in 2016. Private and city-owned buildings larger than 25,000 ft2 (2300 m2) will be required to report their energy use. Owners of the designated buildings will be required to annually benchmark and report to the city their properties’ energy use. Using this data, building owners will then be asked to complete an energy audit once every 10 years. The City projects that the ordinance will drive a 20% reduction in commercial energy consumption by the year 2030, spur the creation of more than 1,000 jobs a year in the first few years, and reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 2013 levels by 2030.
